Most of the science festivals in the US and Canada happen to be crammed into two six-week stretches, one in the spring and another in the fall. COVID destroyed most of the spring festivals last year. With little to no warning, March and April festivals mostly had to just relent and cancel their plans, with some having to stop short right in the middle of their scheduled celebrations. For many of those festivals, this year is different.
It is clear that there will be little to no gathering in the public square this spring, but this time around spring festival organizers have had the chance to think carefully about work arounds. None of them will tell you that it’s better than getting together in person, but festival offerings this spring include many creative ways to bring people together safely. Since much of this activity is online, it is now possible to participate in many spring festivals at the same time.
In normal times, the Science Festival Alliance would have made sure that members had updated their profiles so that our map and calendar would be filled. But we’ve decided to let that go for the time being (we will be back!). So for now, here’s a list of Science Festival Alliance members with virtual events this spring:
Celebrating March 16 – 25: Science is Everywhere Festival (New York City)
Celebrating March 13 – 27: Atlanta Science Festival
Celebrating March 24 – 28: Randolph College Science Festival
Celebrating March 27: City of STEM (Los Angeles)
Celebrating throughout March: Maine Science Festival
Celebrating all April: Cambridge Science Festival
Celebrating all April: MSU Science Festival
Celebrating all April: Nebraska Science Festival
Celebrating all April: North Carolina Science Festival
Celebrating April 16 – 18: National Math Festival
Celebrating April 24 – 30: Las Vegas Science and Technology Festival
Celebrating April 24 – May 2: San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering
Celebrating May 5 – 8: COSI Science Festival (Ohio)